Portsmouth boss stresses the need for patience as he eyes raiding Premier League for loan talent

The transfer window opens on June 14, signalling the start of what should be a busy summer of recruitment for the Blues.

Despite reluctance to rely on loan players – and concerns over spiralling financial costs of such deals in recent years – it remains a market they will continue to explore.

There have, of course, been successes of late, notably Matt Macey and Di’Shon Bernard in January, with both arriving under Mousinho.

Pompey’s head coach believes it will be the end of July and early August before the availability of targets become clear.

And he is willing to wait for the right calibre of player.

Mousinho told The News: ‘When I’ve had conversations with fans they have been really positive on Matt and D’Shon.

‘In those two instances, they were loans in January which happened pretty late. Matt happened the day that I came in and D’Shon on transfer deadline day.

‘Loans are ones that tend to pop up towards the back end of July and that’s because, if you look at the hot spots for the loan market, it would be Premier League, Premier League Under-21 sides and Championship, to a certain extent.

‘The players we loaned out are coming back this summer, so we’re going to have them in the building for pre-season and want to fully assess them before making any decisions on what they're going to do and where they go.

‘Premier League and Championship clubs are exactly the same, so it’s likely we’ll need to wait.

‘Those conversations will happen towards the back end of July and in August when players have a better idea of whether they are in their club’s starting line-up or not.’

Macey arrived from Luton on the day of Mousinho’s appointment as head coach in January.

While Bernard came from Manchester United just over a week later on transfer deadline day, joining Owen Dale, Joe Pigott and Dane Scarlett at Fratton Park.

And the Blues boss recognises the benefit of raiding the loan market for talent, despite the drawbacks of not belonging to the club.

He added: ‘We still know there’s a huge amount of value in the loan market and of course we get that reliance on loans has, at times, had a negative impact on us.

‘Probably the best example is what happened with Josh Griffiths in January where we thought we had a goalkeeper and then all of a sudden didn’t because West Brom decided to recall him – and that’s part of the danger with loan players that that can happen.

‘But they can be really, really beneficial to the football club and, for us to get to where we want to go, there needs to be a bit of flexibility there, so were looking at that loan market and making the most of it.’